“ At its best, man is the noblest of all animals. “ Aristotle said. “Separated from law and justice, it is the worst.”
Will the Senate, the 19th which is on the way out, or the 20th, which is forthcoming, rise to the occasion or simply fade away in shame?
There is both good news, and bad news, so far. The journalist cum satirist Malcolm Muggeridge said, the new one is the same the old one, which is a fair warning. Things can go either way as the Greek philosopher had predicted man can become.
First the good news. The 19th has finally convened as an impeachment court after more than four months of legal and political hemming and hawing. It is, by far, the longest and most painstaking interpretation of the word “forthwith” in the 1987 Constitution . this degree of difficulty was unnecessary, its framers had said while kicking some butts for lack of study or sheer dumbness.
In fact, if you believe a few sincere ( without wax, Latin translation) interpreters, not necessarily honest or without bias, the impeachment trial cannot cross over the 20th chamber, ci ting American jurisprudence. Of course, there is always the on the other hand. This is a dilemma that is either bad or good news, depending on which side you’re on.
The bad news is that while the 19th Senate members have taken their oath as impeachment judges, there is doubt that they will turn into what outgoing Senator Koko Pimentel described as cold and impartial judges. Cold, may be, impartial? My foot.
At least three senators, one of them the famous or notorious president’s sister tried to dismiss the impeachment charges against the vice president. The House of Representatives had submitted seven deadly sins of the second highest official of the land to the Senate ranging from betrayal of public trust to graft and corruption. The legal view is that these are all mortal sins, any one of these can unmake the vice president.
She is, in fact, already tarnished, according to no less than the Senate minority leader who saved the day for the institution by carefully maneuvering for the impeachment court to convene. The impeachment trial, he said, is a way of redeeming her reputation by defending herself, publicly. Irony, it is said bring a deeper understanding but less friendliness,
The vice president allies in the Senate believe there is a better way than the impeachment trial. It is a no-impeachment trial at all. It’s the shortest line between two points. A senator ally even showed a little belligerence when he tried to be more physical in his argument for the dismissal of impeachment case outright
Some pro-Duterte senators showed cleared disdain for the impeachment court by not wearing their purple robes, a solemn symbol
of their sacrosanct judicial role. The public defiance has prompted one former justice of the Supreme Court to suggest that those who didn’t don the robes had disqualified themselves as impeachment judges.
Those who went through the motion of donning the regal uniforms and photo-offing for the occasion remain suspect,despite the apparent good faith or goodwill. Perception will always deny reality. Or what is stereotyping is for?
There is hope for now that the wish of 81 percent of the public that the impeachment process will move on will happen. The Senate majority floor leader has given the 19th Senate 19 days to do its job or the VPs trial is kaput. But no less than the Senate President has said, the unfinished special mandate will definitely cross over to the 20th.
The American justice Sonia Sotomayor has said that constitution says what it says and the duty of the citizens is to honor it. There are certain people who have shown their commitment to honor it, notwithstanding that Filipinos are mere copycat charter makers.
NoR can some people, even pro-Duterte ones, simply poo-pooh public OPINION, which former Senator Antonio Trillanes said to which the Senate is a slave. The three most important words in the Constitution are “ we, the people.”, another American justice. The mounting pressure the multisectoral groups have put on the Senate must have been propelled by those words. It will continue to do so until the impeachment job is completed.
Perhaps, it will go even beyond, if the vice president is acquitted as it is being peddled around . The Duterte allies in the Senate seem to grow in number in the 20th Senate. The vice president needs the votes of nine senators to be acquitted; the prosecution needs 16 votes for conviction.
As if preparing for a worse-case scenario, meaning acquittal, the HOR has already listed numerous criminal charges against her if she wins the impeachment, given the ongoing circumstances.
The fate of the impeachment trial now hangs on the performance of the prosecution team and the pieces of evidence it has collected to make its case against the vice president. The possible inclusion of Akbayan Party list congressman Chel Diokno and ML Party list and congresswoman and former senator Leila de Lima will bolster the team. Also, the re-entry of former senators Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan into the Senate will cancel out some of the advantages of the pro-Duterte bloc and further boost the minority bloc.
The convening of the impeachment court is already considered a big triumph for Philippine democracy, regardless of the outcome. “Impeachment is not a remedy for private wrongs, according to lawyer Charles Ruff, but a method to remove a public official whose continued presence in office is grave threat to the nation.
It is for the protection of the public, not the public official in the wrong, former Constitution framer Christian Monsod succinctly put it.
Simon says, do it or fake it. Or pay later.
